NationStates Jolt Archive

The small atoll was alone in the Atlantic Ocean. Nothing for endless miles except the sea, the fish, and the Resurgent Dream's South Atlantic Fleet waiting a safe distance away with dozens of research ships, subs, and helicopters, all taking readings from every imaginable angle and on every imaginable subject. Thousands of scientists watched thousands of screens with baited breath, waiting to breath, waiting for the quiet of the deep sea to be disturbed.

Admiral Jabin Barak raised his binoculors to his eyes. With all the instruments on the crowded bridge, he wanted to see it. "You have a go." was the order, short, simple.

On the atoll, a light beeped on the large metal container sitting near the center, the one man-made object on that tiny perturbance from the endless ocean. One beep on a remote control and then a blinding flash of light. And then the great cloud of gas that vaguely resembled a mushroom, a sight Barak had seen countless times on video, but never before in real life. "Say hello to the modern world." opined Lieutenant Alter Aharoni, a great enthusiast for the project.

"You know what this means, don't you?" Barak said with a scolding frown.

"It means that we now have a weapon practically everyone else developed years ago." Aharoni remarked smugly. "Sir."

"The Resurgent Dream just entered the world of ordinary nations." Barak said with philosophical resignation, lowering his binoculars and heading off the bridge.

In less than ten minutes, the footage of the explosion was playing in a small room in the Royal Palace at Tarana. The High King, sitting ridigly in a cushioned chair designed for a more relaxed pose, frowned severely at the blast. "I've seen more impressive technology in my lifetime, from Space Command, from some of our foreign allies. Still...there's something emblematic in that all too familiar image."

"Exactly, Your Majesty." Hannah Weidenseld, the Minister of State for Defense, was standing a few steps back from Owain's chair, arms crossed behind her back. "There's no constructive purpose for this kind of weapon."

"They can be used tactically, as I've made quite clear to Her Excellency many times. In fact, in some space based scenarios, they're practically needed tactically." argued the thin, uniformed man standing on the other side of the King from Weidenseld. He was Fleet Admiral Raam Sayar, the most powerful professional officer in the entire Danaan Armed Force, the ranking admiral in the Navy and the chair of Military Command Council.

"You want them for strategic use." Weidenseld said sharply.

"That's right. I do." the admiral said in a matter-of-fact tone. "The moral highground on weapons of mass destruction which the lady here wants the country to take..."

"The Minister..." the king corrected sharply.

"The Minister. The Government. Past Governments. We can't afford it if we're going to take a more direct role in world affairs as we have been doing." Sayar said. "In the past, we were a fixture in certain diplomatic circles but that was it. Making friends, finding a position. We relied on larger allies like Menelmacar or Lavenrunz for this kind of thing. That is no longer the case. The fact is that almost every Reich country possesses weapons of mass destruction, the Five Kingdoms posseses weapons of mass destruction (albeit not necessarily conventional atomic bombs), the..."

"I know the list." Owain said cutting him off. "Get serious production under way. Start with the military space shuttles. The Antarans are the most immediate threat. I want a meeting of my full security council to decide on doctrine about these things."

"Your Majesty..." Weidenseld cut in "...you understand that this course of action proceeds over the objections of your Government."

"I do." Owain said. "I also understand, Your Excellency, that our fundamental laws place these decisions above politics for a reason. There is, as you know, provision for the amendment of our fundamental laws in the Agwenian Edicts themselves. However, I very much doubt the Danaan people would give you sufficient support for the change you desire here."

Weidenseld opened her mouth, then closed it silently, not trusting herself to speak for a moment. After taking about ten seconds to breath, she tersely said "Yes, Your Majesty."

Owain sighed slightly but decided not to comment, simply rising. "If there is nothing else, I wish you both a pleasant afternoon."

It was a landing area in Nerise, well out of the public eye and, at least previously, far removed from the attention of the world. The Air Force had obtained temporary control of the facility earlier in the day. Security teams had gone through the place with a fine tooth comb. Troops had shown up to guard a newly constructed electric razor wire fence around the edge of the place.

A few officers stood up in the tower, looking out the great glass windows as the shuttles came in, one by one. There were quite a few in the service but this was being done by tens and three had landed here so far, carted off to behind closed hangar doors where the real work could be done.

The shuttles were not the few starships of the Space Command, made with foreign technology to protect the Resurgent Dream from any hypertech attack and generally kept out of the day to day work of defense. They were shuttles like those most powers sent out to explore space immediately around the Earth, the design vaguely ressembling a bulked up aircraft with stubby white wings. They were a regular combat force and now they would also hold an ever hovering threat.

"Phoenix Three, you're coming in too fast. Pull up, Three! Pull up! Phoenix..." the shocked face of the Technical Sergeant as he trailed off, throwning his headest down with muttered curses, would have alerted everyone in the tower to the accident even if they hadn't seen it from the window.

A shuttle had crash landed. It was lying at an odd angle, heavy dents visible in the metal exterior. Smoke drifted up from the nose and from the engine, less the heat of the vehicle's power than that heat produced by metal scraping against the runway.

It was only seconds before the rescue and medical teams were on the scene, cutting into the cockpit, pulling a bruised and bloody but still living officer from his seat and fastening him immediately onto a gurney, on its way to the medical ward within a few seconds more. Immediately afterwards came another team, spraying the whole exterior with coolant to allow the engineers a workable surface.

"That'll take awhile." muttered an officer, turning away from the window. "I suppose we'll only have nine in this batch."

Lieutenant Abba Machuv slowly opened his eyes. He jerked upright in his hospital bed, lolling his head and bringing a hand up to steady his forehead. Strangers were at his side almost instantly, skilled hands helping him to lie back down. "Don't try to sit up just yet. You're lucky to be alive."

"What happened?" Machuv asked, starting to gather where he was.

"You crashed a shuttle. That's what happened. Any idea what happened back there?" the doctor asked, even as he checked his patient carefully, tending to his needs.

"I don't know, doc." Machuv admitted. "I might not have gotten enough sleep last night."

"Might not have? You know you have to be well-rested to fly one of these things, especially on a long run." the doctor chided.

"I didn't feel I could tell the captain I wasn't flying because I didn't get enough sleep. I'm a pilot. I'm trained to deal with this shit." Machuv protested.

"Well, try and be more careful from now on, hmmm?" the doctor requested, moving over the check his equipment.

The shuttles were refitted, ten at a time, over the next week or two. By the next Friday, most of them were back on duty, patrolling the routes between Earth and Luna.

Meanwhile, shipyards in Corral and Pele began work on a new model of submarine. High security clearance was required for even the the lowest level workers on the project and the actual engineers and scientists involved in the project were all associated with the Ministry for Defense. Most of them were Menelmacari trained and had worked on the major joint projects with Akaton, now so many years past.

Aert Aarland was just a regular shipyard worker at the Galle Naval Shipyard in Corral. At his job, he had already been required to have basic security clearance but he'd been required to take a number of tests and grant permission for a more extensive background check for this one. He had no clue why. But that wasn't even on his mind at the moment. All he was thinking about was a nice potato kroket at Abraham's, a small restaurant near the shipyards.

"Hey, Jaapje, are you coming to lunch with us?" Aert tried to make the question sound natural, although he was inwardly nervous. Ever since Jacaomyntje Cadmus had gotten a job at the shipyard, he'd had his eye on her. Still, he didn't want to blow it by acting too fast, like he would with most girls. Aert was a brawny blue-collar type guy but...this girl made him shy as a schoolboy for no reason he knew.

"Sure. Just let me finish with this piece and I'll be right there!" the woman called back.

Jacaomyntje, Aert, and about a half dozen other workers from the shipyards crowded around a table at Abraham's, munching hungrily on the Dutch food the restaurant specialized in. Aert was munching hungrily on his potato kroket, Jaapje had a frikandel, and the others had ordered various other foods. In the background, the television was turned to the news. "Her Excellency, the Minister for Culture, has stated that the opposition's objection to the new arts bill is based entirely upon simple minded prejudice. In international news, the Danaan embassy in Upper Virginia has reported hope in the ongoing..."

"Turn it on some sports!" one of the men with Aert called out. "The Agwenberg Falcons are playing today!"

Jaapje held up her hand. "No, no, I want to hear this."

"Let's leave it on this." Aert said with false enthusiasm, hoping it would win him some points.

The man behind the counter shrugged indifferently and left the television as it was, moving on to a few other customers.

In the Principality of Corral, people of Dutch descent were the largest single heritage group. Dutch was the second most spoken language after English. Corral based businesses traded with Knootoss three times as much as any other principality, relative to their population. Corral was even the only principality where the controversial Pink Bunny Cola was legal. Correspondingly, it wasn't surprising that some of these cultural links showed in the restaurant chatter about the news from Upper Virginia. The common opinion seemed to be general support for their own government's neutral policy mixed with a feeling that the Danaans representatives should be a little more friendly to the Knootians and a little less friendly to the Pantocratorians and Excalbians. Of course, Aert didn't particularly care much but he spoke enthusiastically, Jaapje seemed to care about these things.

"Daatman doesn't want war anymore than anyone else does." she was saying, as the man on the television made a comment she found overly favorable to the Pantocratorians. "He does have to ensure that his nation isn't ostracized regionally though. International opinion has been disproportionately turned against Knootoss over the...unfortunate business with Tanah Burung."

"Exactly." Aert agreed. "It isn't like they have colonies anymore or anything."

Jaapje shook her head slightly. "It is a little more complicated than that, when you take the legal structure of the Knootian Federation into account. But there's really no part of the Federation where people don't have a reasonable degree of self-government. Certainly no area as morally abominable as the Despotate of New Constantinople, where murder and rape mask themselves as law."

"I know!" Aert exclaimed, hoping he could pick up what and where this Despotate was from the context to follow.

As the small crowd headed back to the shipyards, they noticed a small crowd of protesters had gathered outside the gate. When one worked in a military shipyard in a free country, this was not entirely unusual and the small group continued to move calmly through the crowd, who were held back by a few local constables. Jaapje idly read the signs saying "No War For Ivory!" and "Montmanuel: War Criminal!" Chants rung out loudly from the crowd, rising from the lips of angry looking university students and bearded old folk alike.

"One! Two! Three! Four!
We don't want your f****** war!
Five! Six! Seven! Eight!
Danaans, don't participate!"

Jaapje turned and snarled. "Would you rather all be worshipping Metatron?"

"We're not at war with the Reich. We're at war with Marlund! Do you think the Sons of the Reformation were going to take over the Resurgent Dream?" a protester called back.

"Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
Scott and Kairis have to go!
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
Weidenseld has got to go!"

"No, but I'm worried they might kill a lot more Danaans, like the 37,000 Armonvale dead whose graves you're pissing on right now!" Jaapje replied.

"They didn't die to kill Beyke babies!" the man called back.

"Brick by brick and wall by wall!
We're gonna stop the battle call!"

"So you'd rather those babies grew up to be slaves, raped and beaten and kept in ignorance and darkness, along with millions of others?" Jaapje called back.

"Oh, shut up, you war-mongering whore bitch!" the man called back.

Aert, who had been keeping out of the exchange, snapped at that, running towards the protester and, at that moment, quite ready to beat the man's brains out, until he felt the steady hands of a constable. "Hey there! Just take it easy, busy. They have a right to protest here. Just go on to work."

To:
Madame la Vicomtesse de Kairis
Minister for Foreign Affairs
The Danaan High Kingdom

Madame,

I write to you to express the disappointment of the Imperial Government in the Danaan High Kingdom's role in continuing the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass murder.

The Danaan High Kingdom previously enjoyed the reputation of being a moral exemplar amongst nations, a nation committed to the principles of reason and justice. In developing nuclear weapons, it has lost its moral preeminence amongst nations, and has abandoned the principles reason and justice in favour of the savagery and arbitrary destruction of the lives of innocent civilians which atomic weaponry represents.

Sincerely,

Demetrios Raoul
The Hon. D. Raoul MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs

FDK-Gov't Commentary on Daanan Actions
WN3 Reprint of Summary
Datafiles Included

The First Distributed Kingdom of Weyr notes the Daanan Kingdom of the Resurgent Dream's decision to implement nuclear weapons as its standard armament, and assumes that said entity will not hesitate to employ said weapons in any engagement. It finds such a decision laughable as a military threat, and wonders if the military leaders of the Daanan Kingdom have seriously considered the issues associated with employing nuclear weapons as its armament of choice for dealing with significant military or even strategic threats.

Since the establishment of semi-permanent orbital and extraplanetary military positions, ground-based militaries have been at a significant disadvantage. Any weapons platform in stable orbit is capable of destroying a large surface area via simple kinetics guided by nothing more than formulas and calculations found on any civilian data network. Conversely, groundside platforms have to expend significantly more energy to intercept and terminate orbital-launched weapons due to simple Newtonian physics. This makes ground-based weapons, including nuclear-tipped missiles, relatively inefficient against spacial threats.

A nuclear fission/fusion detonation in space is normally manifested as a high-energy radiation spike, which would most likely have little to no effect against most military-grade platforms. Considering the relatively short range of a normal explosive sphere in space, whose effective power decreases rapidly as it expands, a nuclear device is a rather inefficient weapon in modern spatial engagements.

Since nuclear weapons are inherently ineffective against non-planetary military targets, the assumption can easily be made that Daanan missile deployments will be against planetary surface targets. Military formations in the modern world make for fairly good mass-scale weapons strikes. This is especially true of naval formations, which can be easily eliminated for all tactical purposes with a single atmospheric or a subsurface detonation. A similar approach works for airfields and bases. Tactical formations will most likely be easier to counter with more portable 'pocket nukes'.

A missile strike, however, assumes that the opponent will not be capable of detecting and then intercepting the missiles and/or the warheads. Most modern states have invested into significant surface and orbital interception systems, which make a missile strike a blatantly obvious and expensive tactic. With most military installations located close to or within urbanized areas, and with the military-industrial complex often highly involved in daily civilian life, an attack against the military with weapons as undiscriminating and high-yield as modern nuclear weapons will most likely result in significant non-military casualties. This, in turn, means that nuclear weapons are inherently anti-civilian and more importantly anti-urban devices. There are a number of current weapons somewhat more expensive to implement but significantly cheaper to deny responsibility for that will achieve a similar, if not an identical, mission.

It is much safer, for example, to bioengineer a viral strain and unleash it on an opposing state or populace, without suffering any of the negative publicity. It is not particularly difficult to eliminate any possible links between a nation and a potentially disastrous disease outbreak. Considering how devastating any robust, parasitic organism with a small incubation period would be within a highly urbanized society, and considering how difficult it would be to locate the index case for a properly implemented attack, the selection of a weapon whose deployment can be detected hours in advance is incomprehensible.

As always, please remember that the CITADEL Mk61 Force Screens used by FDK-Terra Urban Municipalities are fully capable of withstanding up to 11.812 gigatons of explosive force prior to potential failure, and that any attempts to employ high-efficiency, non-discriminating weapons against the Distributed Kingdom or its Parts will be considered a violation of the Neutrality Acts and may lead to national termination of the deployer and/or its populace and/or its government, depending (1) on the availability of forces and (2) on the degree of termination required to eliminate the potential of the aggressor to implement any form of aggressive warfare up to and including a full-scale Quarantine of the entity in question.

Department for Strategic Planning, SDF
Office of the Advocate, MiniForeign
Department of Disease Management, MiniHealth

#tag for congratulations#

Sent in response to the test:

To: Minister de Kairis of Foreign Affairs, The Resurgent Dream
From: Femke Vologdov of Pereslavl, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defence, Knootoss

On behalf of the Knootian government I would like to congratulate the Danaan High Kingdom on its first successful test of a nuclear weapon in the Atlantic Ocean. The Knootian government is glad that one of our VERITAS allies has achieved nuclear capabilities and, with it, the strategic options that such weapons offer as a deterrent.

We fully trust and confidently believe that the Resurgent Dream will use (or rather –not - use) these weapons responsibly, and exercise extreme prejudice in their deployment. It is regrettable that the presence of dangerous fascist, communist and anti-human power blocks has forced civilized nations to arm themselves in this way but in our world and our time there is no alternative. The Daatman Administration and my own ministry remains committed to facilitating such international relations and international peace that will render nuclear weapons obsolete.

In order to further improve your nuclear capabilities I can offer to detach some experts from the Knootian Defence Force to make Danaan weapons safer, more efficient and more effective. My people have ample experience in the storage and deployment of such weaponry and feel that our knowledge could contribute to making the Danaan arsenal safer and more effective. Such assistance would, in our opinion, be prudent both under the terms of the existing VERITAS agreement and under any terms for a comprehensive agreement for the North Atlantic.

Yours,

Femke Vologdov
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence
Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis

((OOC: Her name's not de Kairis. Panto was just Frenchifying it.))

To: Countess Pereslavl
From: Viscountess Kairis

Your Excellency,

I am grateful to you and to the Knootian people of their congratulations and their warm wishes. It is a sad fact of the world today that it remains, to paraphrase a historical North American leader, half slave and half free. Billions upon billions of people live under the crushing forces of Bolshevism, fascism, white supremacism, and human racialism. In some states, beyond the bounds of the civilized world, chattel slavery remains a powerful force. Nearly all of these threats to the peace of the world and the dignity of man arm themselves with weapons of mass destruction. In fact, although one does not hear the claims of tiny states to unbelievably enormous nuclear stockpiles as often as one used to, atomic weaponry is available all but the smallest and most economically undeveloped nations in the world, if and when the will exists to develop it. We in the free world, if we are to remain free, cannot allow a misinterpretation of our treasured principles of peace and diplomacy to lead us to disarm ourselves in the face of everpresent danger.

As to you specific offer regarding Knootian advisors, it is too early to answer. As you are no doubt aware, this new development has not even been officially announced in Parliament or to the public yet.

Yours,

Minerva Karamanlis
Viscountess Kairis
His Most Esteemed High Majesty's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs

To: Demetrios Raoul
From: Viscountess Karamanlis

Honorable sir,

I cannot say that I am not wounded by the apparent change in Pantocratoria's opinion of our country brought about by this latest development in defensive technology. The intensity of your language seems uncalled for, especially since the Government of this country refrained for the sake of our alliance, from issuing any formal condemnation when Pantocratorian military recklessness did kill thousands of allied civilian with conventional weaponry.

On a more substantive note, I find it rather naive to believe that any non-proliferation treaty signed by any collection of reasonable states and not signed by any of the numerous dictatorial rogue states which ceaselessly threaten the peace of the world does anything positive for non-proliferation or for peace. Logically, such a treaty only limits nuclear weapons to irresponsible governments with no interest in limiting their use. While nuclear disarmamanet is an admirable idea, unilateral disarmament by the free nations of the world does nothing more than allow states like Iraqstan, Iesus Christi, and Eurusea to hold the rest of the world hostage. The only fully effective defense against a complete nuclear bombardment is the threat of mutually assured destruction. The possession of nuclear weapons by both sides in any conflict is the only way to insure that neither side makes use of them.

It is my sincere hope that the feelings of His Imperial Majesty's Government on this matter will not cause a disruption in the lasting and firm friendship which I have always sincerely believed to exist between our nations.

Yours,

Minerva Karamanlis
Viscountess Kairis
His Most Esteemed High Majesty's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs

~ ~ ~ Earth Space ~ ~ ~

The white-hot flash was just a pin-prick spark, at least from the superior orbit of the oil-drum sized remote observation satellite that This United State had deposited above the Earth during a previous term of contracted services. Since that time it'd been up amongst all the trash in orbit, just sort of ... watching things. So by chance, it'd been watching the face of the Earth where this white-hot pin-prick had been born. A little bit of digging in Earth based data net-works by the intelligent sat-system produced the name of those responsible. A fellow VERITAS member, this one. Interesting, to say the least.

A brief report was compiled, encoded, and fired off to New London, T.U.S. Mars.

~ ~ ~ New London - T.U.S. - Mars ~ ~ ~

The building was a some-what seedy looking office block in a lower part of New London. It may well have been chipped plasti-paint on the structure, the reflective privacy windows covered in a veneer of grime, and the flickering bar-light installed above the steps up to the only door, were what made it look so seedy. There was a general air of mundane un-interest to the place as a result. In fact, the only detail of real note was a clean, back-lit sign above the door, announcing " G5 Consulting is OPEN ".

Of course, G5 Consulting was always open. It was the nerve center of the closest thing T.U.S. had, to a Treasury Department ran Secret Service Bureau.

The small man sat in his luxury decorated office. The only light came from an active wide-screen desk-pane before him. Had it not been so dark in the room, one would see he was a moon faced little fellow, only five and a half feet small, due to a stooped back, with a head of hair that was in fact a naked swathe of healthy pink skin. He wore small gold frammed half moon spectacles, and an ochre-brown suit that must have been so cheap, by the look of it, that the fabric had a shine to it.

The small man gave the contents of the desk-pane display another speculative glance, before he constructed a message,

Dear Minerva Karamanlis,
Viscountess Kairis,
His Most Esteemed High Majesty's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

Greetings, This United State would like to be among the first to congratulate your nation, a fellow VERITAS member, upon the recent occasion where you have progressed from scientific theory to practical field experimentation with both success and elegance. In light of this victory in the pursuit of knowledge, This United State writes to you to announce that it prides itself on providing a diverse but very select client base with the best in quality products and services to suit the needs of our customers.

We have had the audacity thus to contact you in order to market our services to you, as you are a very important prospective customer. It would be our pleasure to furnish your government with significant quantities of refined, quality-controlled plutonium for use in future analytical devices. This United State can provide these significant quantities from our significant reserves - and there-fore at very competitive prices, and arrange rapid and secure delivery if required.

We also have a range of premium, pre-constructed analytical devices which may be of interest. Naturally these use our own plutonium filler and we're sure the results will be satisfactory to your requirements of an analytical device.

I hope I can expect your reply soon,

Mr Simth,
G5 Consulting - acting under contract to :
This United State, Mars.

To: Mr. Smith
From: Viscountess Kairis

Honored sir,

I have received your missive with great interest. While the Danaan High Kingdom, for security reasons, avoids true dependence on even allied states in defense planning, we are frequently willing to supplement our domestically produced defense materials and technologies with materials and technologies purchased from friendly powers and other reliable external sources. The purchase of uranium and of a limited number of This United State analytical devices would certainly fit within this policy. Correspondingly, I am sending your message, through the appropriate channels, to the appropriate logistical offices of our Air Force. You should expect to be contacted within the next two to three days by a Danaan logistics officer for the purposes of negotiating the specifics of a purchase.

Sincerely,

Minerva Karamanlis
Viscountess Kairia
His Most Esteemed High Majesty's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs

((OOC: We can skip over the redtape of people working out exact details, unless you particularly want to play it.))

In any government system, papers need to be written for future use.

PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS CAPABILITIES OF THE DHK OF TRD
T. de Santiela
Sector of North Atlantic Security, Division of Defense

[...]

The conclusions of this report are that the Danaan test of nuclear weapons represents an advancement in Danaan defensive and attack capabilities, but does not represent a shift in Danaan attack and defensive policies. Despite accounts to the contrary, this report believes that the Danaan High Kingdom is planning to use such weapons for strategic, as opposed to tactical, purposes.

[...]

Tomás de Santiela,
Sector of North Atlantic Security, Division of Defense

[Sent Via M-Net]
[To: Viscountess Kairis Minerva Karmanalis, H. M. E. H. M. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, the Danaan High Kingdom of the Resurgent Dream]
[From: Force Director William Acheson, Division of Defense, the United Solaris Federation of Tiburon]
[Subject: Nuclear Power]
[Classification: Declassified]

Viscountess Karmanalis,

The United Solaris Federation has noted the passage of the Resurgent Dream into the nuclear club, a burgeoning group comprised both of those nations which intend to protect the populace of the universe with diplomacy and a solid base of these weapons and those nations that would wantonly use these weapons to destroy millions. As a VERITAS ally and a nation generally supportive of the persuasive power of MAD to bring nations back from the brink of annihilation to the discussion table, the United Solaris Federation, in the interests of North Atlantic security (which, in effect, means security for our shores as well) would like to assist the Danaan High Kingdom in refining their strategic nuclear stockpile and assist in the construction and/or sell nuclear dampers to prevent any nuclear attack or accident on/in the Resurgent Dream to result in significant long-term effects on the Resurgent Dream.

Sincerely,
William Acheson,
Force Director of Defense,
The United Solaris Federation of Tiburon

TO: William Acheson
From: Viscountess Kiaris

Honored sir,

We are, of course, grateful for your kind words. As I have told several other powers who have written with offers of aid or business of some sort, any formal contract must await the formal announcement of our new nuclear capabilities. However, I shall forward your offer to the appropriate military and Defense Ministry officials.

As to the North Atlantic, we do feel that mutually assured destruction adds stability to the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and South Pacific regions, all areas where the integral territorial components of the Resurgent Dream are located. However, the peace that can be brought by nuclear deterrance is, at best, the absence of war and is more typically the displacement of war and the prevention of escalation. More important is that peace which comes from the presence of cooperation and good will, which is the goal of the Resurgent Dream's current involvement in the comprehensive North Atlantic treaty negotiations. Our policy for peace must be two-fold: Deterrance towards rogue states and understanding and cooperation among reasonable states, even reasonable states with strong political, historical, and religious differences, as some of the nations even now being brought together in the North Atlantic have. Correspondingly, although we shall consider your offer of military aid, I would say that Tiburon could do even more for peace and stability in the North Atlantic and elsewhere by enhancing programs of cooperation and cultural exchange, with ourselves and with other reasonable states.

Sincerely,

Minerva Karamanlis
Viscountess Kairis
His Most Esteemed High Majesty's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs

((OOC: *Reminds about the other thread*))

The Eternal Noldorin Empire of Menelmacar wishes to congratulate The Resurgent Dream on the success of its latest technological endeavor, although we have never sought to develop such atomic devices beyond the proof-of-concept and testing stages ourselves. As always, we respect the sovereignty of the internal policies of our neighbors and allies, and we wish only to extend our approbations on this achievement. We find the criticism from certain states to be entirely unwarranted; non-proliferation of weapons only prevents those weapons being held by those who are amenable to such concepts, and creates a monopoly for the capability of ‘mass’ destruction for those irresponsible enough to waive such concerns.

The comments of the Pantocratorian minister for foreign affairs particularly show that Pantocratorians are truly the spiritual inheritors of Rome. In this case, they appear to have inherited the aspect of Janus. While he has the temerity to censure the Danaan government for developing new weapons, he works for a government presently sheltering the war criminal known as the Duke of Montmanuel without even dismissal from his position as punishment for his crimes. Perhaps they do not realise just how much this degenerate has damaged the countenance of Pantocratoria as an allegedly peace loving state. It is a poor man who attempts to chastise the peaceful and law-abiding owner of a gun for perceived aggression, while being himself a murderer who uses a garrotte.

- Lady Serendis nos Fithurin, Menelmacari Prefect of Imperial Defense and Homeland Security

In the name of God: The majestic creator and redeemer of humanity.

While Iesus Christi accepts every nation has the right to defend itself with whatever means necessary, we denounce this development of genocidal weapons as anti Christian and unholy.
With little doubt, these weapons will be used against the Christian faithful in your continuing war against the apostles of the Christ. Many more faithful will certainly perish at your hands via these weapons.
We clearly foresee the time when you intend to use these weapons against Iesus Christi herself, part of the continued diabolic plan to subdue humanity beneath the tyrannical boot of metahumanism.
Faithful Christianity will never be cowed by your dire weapons, and will never surrender to Metahuman imperialism! This we have so pledged! And this we so vow!

General John-Paul Walsh
Ministry of Social Order.


…With help from metahuman scientists terrible weapons have been created with the express aim of destroying Iesus Christi and the Reich. Danaan officials yesterday declared openly their intent to use nuclear weapons on Iesus Christi…..
.....a leading Danaan General declared “desecration of the Christian Iesus state our top priority” and went onto say “Civilian deaths in an attack on Iesus Christi would be a superb bonus” A Danaan government minister went even further by stating “Atomic attack on Iesus Christi is desirable, and such a attack is being planned”….
………General Robards has called for addition security, and steadfastness in this “time of continued national emergency”……”Highlights the continued real danger to our Christian way of life”……
…..We as a people must be prepared for the coming conflict, we must remain vigilant against the imperialistic foreign invaders who desire the destruction of our motherland and of the Christian faith….

…extracts…Iesus National daily Newspaper “Dei Verbum”

It's coming. Don't worry.

[Sent Via J-Net]
[To: Minerva Karmanalis, Viscountess Kiaris of the Danaan High Kingdom of the Resurgent Dream]
[From: William Acheson, Force Director of Defense; Sakura Akanimara, Forafsec, the United Solaris Federation of Tiburon]
[Subject: Nuclear Power]
[Classification: Declassified]

Viscountess Kiaris,

The United Solaris Federation is in complete agreement with that assessment. While the threat of mutually assured destruction may ensure a tenuous peace that prevents loss of life, a true peace may only be obtained through mutual cooperation, through pursuit of peace that curtails the power of rogue states and makes the concept of international cooperation more relevant to whichever theater is present. The United Solaris Federation has been working with other nations for a considerable amount of time to form organizations to perform exactly this- we are currently negotiating the formation of multinational organizations in Neptune and Mercury for such a purpose, and are working with the Scolopendrans and Harakians to create a new alliance specifically to support the cause of progressivism.

As per the request to enhance programs of cooperation and cultural exchange, the United Solaris Federation already has many such programs in place with a good deal of nations, presumably with the Resurgent Dream as well, given our common membership in VERITAS. Tiburon prides itself for its diversity and its quality of being a home for all cultures, all races, all sentient species (both natural and artificial), where the principles of equality and freedom stand firm. The United Solaris Federation is a staunch proponent of the spread of cultural diversity and international cooperation, and recognizes the same commitment to such ideals by the Resurgent Dream. We stand firm with your nation on these subjects, and indeed wish to support the Danaan High Kingdom on such matters, as your letter indicated.

Sincerely,
Sakura Akanimara and William Acheson,
Forafsec of State and Force Director of Defense,
The United Solaris Federation of Tiburon

Neither the Iesian nor the Menelmacari announcements required much in the way of response. The Iesian message, containing as it did not mere differences of opinion but statements regarding empirical matters of fact which both Iesian and Danaan authorities (if not average Iesians) presumably knew to be untrue, was judged to have been more intended for the international public than for the Danaan Government. Nonetheless, the Iesians were sent a perfunctory reassurance that the Danaan Government had no intention of initiating a nuclear first strike against any power. It didn't pretend to be friendly but wasn't unnecessarily hostile either. The Menelmacari got a courtoues thank you. However, both announcements as well as that of Pantocratorian Foreign Minister Raoul had created something of a problem for Hannah Weidenseld by their very open and public nature, pre-empting her planned public announcement of the new bomb by three days. Thus it was that Saturday morning, three days before the Minister's planned announcement, Parliament was summoned to a surprise weekend sitting.

After the Speaker had called the Parliament to order, Weidenseld rose and approached the podium. She was a heavily muscled woman with light olive skin and raven hair, normally worn in a short cut. She was dressed in a tasteful but not particularly notable pantsuit and sensible shoes, her normal attire for Parliamentary sittings (excepting the Speech from the Throne).

"My honorable friends, the Government has called you here today to address recent announcements by foreign powers, both friend and foe, which most of you have doubtless already seen. Last Tuesday, at 7:54 AM, the Resurgent Dream detonated an atomic bomb on a small atoll in the Atlantic Ocean. The test was a sucess..." The entire opposition and about half the members of the governing coalition burst into applause. "The completion of this process is currently predicted for the Seventeenth of March, just under a month from today. However, it is predicted that the Resurgent Dream will have the capability for Mutually Assured Destruction sooner than that, on 7 March. I cannot stress enough that we have these weapons to prevent their use. While this seems counterintuitive, only the possiblility of mutual destruction can serve as an effective deterrant to any hostile power which might otherwise be willing to attack the Resurgent Dream or her allies with atomic weapons..."

The speech then went in to some of the specifics of military policy and of the potential threats now facing the Resurgent Dream. Weidenseld spent a great deal of time on the Sons of the Reformation terrorist group and on the Antarrans, the two groups with whom the Resurgent Dream was currently in conflict. She mentioned, in passing, a long list of hostile or potentially hostile powers possessing weapons on mass destruction, including Bolsheviks, racialists, fascists, fundamentalist theocracies, and similarly totalitarian regimes, as well as a few nations with more mundane geopolitical reasons to pose a threat to the Resurgent Dream. Only after the current world situation had been discussed in detail, was specific policy announced.

"...and thus the policy of the Resurgent Dream regarding the use of nuclear weapons shall be one of mutually assured destruction. This country will never make first use of nuclear weapons, tactical or strategic. Should, at any point, a foreign power use a nuclear weapon to attack the integral territory of the Resurgent Dream or the integral territory of any allied power with which the Resurgent Dream has a treaty of mutual defense, then this shall prompt an immediate and total nuclear retaliation A policy which we have for the sole reason that we won't have to use it but also a policy which we are completely and unreservedly willing to follow through with should the need arise. The use of nuclear weapons by a hostile power, in international water or international space, in a tactical capacity, shall meet with a proportional nuclear response, also in international space or waters and also in a tactical capacity."

It had been over a month since the Resurgent Dream had announced her nuclear program to the world. A month, in truth, is not that much time. It was known that the Danaans had enough nuclear firepower already to do serious damage but not enough to yet assure the destruction of any sizeable power. What was unknown, except to a few insiders, was the specific level of Danaan nuclear development.

Clement Kaelin knew, although he wasn't supposed to. However, the investigative reporter from the Daily Herald was hardly going to print something like that. He wasn't a traitor, even if he did have a habit of getting information he wasn't supposed to. What he was going to print in the next edition was that the Cabinet had fought the King on this. The people deserved to know that kind of thing, what really went on. He wasn't sure if it would help or hurt the Progressives, although he hoped it would hurt them. He wasn't sure if it would effect the relationship between the Crown, the armed forces, and the Ministry for Defense in the new constitution he knew was being prepared as part of the Commonwealth negotiations. He could imagine any number of possibilities. He did know the people deserved to know, and soon they would.